Russia & China's Pipeline to Nowhere

Negotiating and then building the proposed Russo-Chinese gas pipeline should be an easy win-win. Russia has enormous gas deposits in Western and Eastern Siberia; China has an omnivorous need for energy and the huge capital reserves that would be required to finance the operation. Although there are challenges of topography and other collateral issues, none of them would seem to present insuperable obstacles in getting to yes. Yet despite more than a decade of discussions and negotiations, there is no contract for a pipeline, and the prospect for one in the immediate future is at best uncertain. But that outcome is hardly set in stone. This episode, frustrating to both parties, reveals much about the true state of Russo-Chinese relations while also confirming former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s observations a few years ago about how politics are warping global energy markets.